Antigen specificity of T cells mediating suppression of immunity to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection and vaccination.

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Vaccines are the most cost effective method for controlling many infectious diseases. Using vaccines also reduces the use of antibiotics and that results in less antimicrobial resistance to drugs used to treat infection. Many pathogens affect livestock species and, in the pork industry, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is one of the most economically important infections today. This viral disease has spread world-wide and pig farmers struggle to control the disease. There are vaccines available in the market, but the performance of these formulations is limited. Specifically, these vaccines only provide good protection against similar strains of the virus and there are two major types and many subtypes. So, protection is fairly narrow when the farmers need the vaccine to have very broad protection. We will develop tools that will allow for the design of next generation vaccines to control spread of infection even when the circulating virus is very different from the virus used to make the vaccine. We propose to develop technologies for pig research that are already available to human vaccine researchers and that allow a more accurate and informative assessment of the immune response to vaccination. Using these modern, more informative technologies will provide new and clear results to be used in the design and testing of more affordable vaccines for PRRSV. These efforts will give farmers an important tool to control a disease that causes significant economic loss and serious pain and suffering in their animals.